Kaleidoscope
by XxTalented-x-CheesexX
Summary: AU Leo&Piper. Pipers the daughter of an italian mafia gangster. Leo's his lawyer. what will happen? R&R its better than it sounds! I dont own charmed or any of its characters.
1. Chapter 1

**Kaleidoscope. **

**Chapter One: **_Heat wave._

Palermo, Sicily. Not exactly where he had expected to find himself at six thirty AM, on a Tuesday morning. But here he was. Uncomfortable in a crumpled up business suit. Still groggy from the exhausting flight. Reflecting on the insane events of the past few days.

Leo Wyatt sighed. It had all happened so fast. Just thinking that brought a smile to his face, because it wasn't strictly true. This case had taken up the last two months of his life. He'd lost sleep over it. Missed meals. Family events. Was flying over to Italy on just a few hours notice really that bigger stretch?

Maybe not, but it was defiantly overwhelming. And so damn hot. Humid was the word there was no breeze. No relief. To be honest Leo was the type of person who hard time dealing with typical San Franciscan summers. This was something else. He was fully expecting to pass out from heat exhaustion any second, and suddenly wished that he'd had the presence of mind to change out of his thick business suit before getting on the plane. But he hadn't. He'd only been thinking about the case. Like always. That's what made him such a good lawyer. Of course, now he was a dangerously overheated lawyer, but a good one all the same.

"I am in the wrong profession." He muttered to himself, taking a good look around.

It was beautiful here. Pure blue skies. Sandy buildings. Exotic plants. It was just a shame that he wasn't the type to appreciate it. He had never understood the fascination. Right now, he'd much rather be admiring the beauty of his nice comfy bed.

He squinted at the crumpled up piece of paper in his hand. Checked the hastily scribbled address. It was the same as on the door in front of him. Great. He'd found the right house. That was a start.

He knocked on the door, and waited. It was several minutes before it angrily creaked open.

The girl behind it glared at him.

"Che cosa l'inferno voi desidera? La relativa metà oltre sei di mattina nell'interesse dei dii!"

That was the first time Leo realized that he couldn't actually speak Italian.

"I-I'm sorry." He stuttered. "Do you speak English?"

He studies her face for any sign that she understood what he was saying.

She looked pissed. One eyebrow raised. Bare arms crossed as if she was actually cold in the incredible heat. Her long, slept on dark hair fell down her slender back. Over her tanned shoulders.

"I'm looking for Piper Halliwell." He said deliberately slowly, trying not to notice the skimpy lilac one piece she was wearing.

"I'm a lawyer." He explained. "You know, l-a-w-y-e-r? Attorney? Solicitor? Erm…Law helping… guy."

She looked at him blankly. Said nothing.

"Look, I-I don't speak Italian." He continued. "Do you speak any English?"

Again she said nothing.

Leo was almost relieved when a door inside was heaved open, and heavy footsteps sounded on the stairs. An older woman, bed headed and bleary eyed, appeared in the doorway.

She scowled and demanded,

"Che cosa sta accendendo?"

Leo sighed. Why hadn't he anticipated this happening?

"Do you speak English?" he asked tiredly.

To his surprise the woman nodded.

"Who are you?" she asked in a thick Italian accent.

Leo blinked.

"L-Leo Wyatt. I'm Victor Luciano's lawyer."

"You'd better come in." she sighed.

"I'm looking for Piper Halliwell. Maybe you could translate to your, erm… granddaughter?"

"She speak fluent English. She is just… with you, playing."

The girl laughed. Leo wasn't sure whether it was at him or at her grandmothers English. Either way it lit up her face. Distracted him momentarily.

"Can you blame a girl?" She said in a perfect American accent. "It's half past six in the morning. Who _does_ speak English at this hour?"

Leo exhaled.

"Like I said, im sorry about that, but I really need to find Piper Halliwell."

"Fake concern. One-track mind. Yeah, your definitely a lawyer."

"Common misconceptions." Leo breathed lightly. "Now, at the risk of proving them right, are you Piper Halliwell?"

She smiled.

"If I admit it, will you stop saying it?"

"What am I supposed to call you?"

"Drop the 'Halliwell'. It makes for less of a mouthful."

"Okay Piper. I need to talk to you about your father."

Piper sighed.

"Just let me go and get dressed."

Part of him wanted to protest. Piper was a gorgeous girl, and the nightdress she was wearing highlighted her assets perfectly. To be honest, Leo was enjoying the view, but he couldn't exactly voice this. Plus there was the whole possibility of her sneaking out of the window and not coming back.

The older woman fixed him with a steely glare and muttered something under her breath, when his Leo's eyes stayed focussed on one of Pipers 'assets' for slightly too long.

"What do you want with her exactly?"

"I think that's something I should discuss with Piper first." He said carefully.

"You don't pull her into her fathers mess."

"I'm not trying to do anything of the sort, I assure you."

"She is still young. She doesn't deserve it. She no need lawyers in her house."

"I'm just doing my job." He said plainly.

"And you don't care who gets hurt."

"You don't even know me."

"No one like lawyers. Not here, not in America. I'm warning you. Let her be."

She was protective. That much was obvious. From what he had seen here, and from information he had accumulated in San Francisco, Leo had a pretty good picture of the family.

Penelope 'Grams' Halliwell was protective of Piper because she was the only granddaughter of three still living in Italy. The other two, Prue and Phoebe, had moved to San Francisco a few years ago, and had flatly refused to talk to him. About the case. About their father. Leo couldn't really blame them. Victor was on trial for murder, and they had every right to want to stay as far away from that as possible., but Leo suspected that there was something else going on there. Something he hadn't quite got to the bottom of yet. But he would.

"You understand me?" Penelope muttered through gritted teeth.

"Sure." Leo agreed. Anything for an easy life…

"Grams, stop threatening our guest." Piper breezed, appearing in the doorway. Running a brush through her hair. She was wearing three quarter lengths, and a long grey top, loose enough to be comfortably, but tight enough to make her look amazing.

"Its stuffy in here. You wanna take a walk?"

Leo nodded, quite happy to be getting away from grams. He wasn't sure that he could take many more of her threats and glares professionally.

Grams thought she'd get one more in, as he practically ran out of the house behind Piper, and narrowed her eyes coldly at him.

"Have a nice –day." He said through greeted teeth, muttering the last part to a closed door, which was still reverberating from the force it was slammed with.

"What a nice woman."

"Really tactful Wyatt." Piper said, raising an eyebrow sarcastically. "Verbally abusing my grandmother is a great way to get me on side. Did they teach you that in law school?"

"Sorry." He muttered to her back, as she started. He followed her down an empty, but unfortunately unshaded, alley sandwiched between two houses.

"I blame the heat. It's really getting to me."

She found this funny. She didn't turn around, but he could hear the amusement in her voice.

"Its probably because your wearing your own body weight in polyester."

"Where are we going?" he asked, suddenly curious.

"What's the matter, don't you trust me?"

"I don't know you. But as your da is admittedly a major player in the mafia, I'm not really sure."

"We're going to a café, just down the road. Nice open space. Lots of witnesses."

She turned to look at him.

"You know you really shouldn't be so quick to judge people."

Leo would have said something clever. Something witty. But he had a weird sensation in his head that he was pretty sure was his overheated brain melting. It would come pouring out of his ears any second. So he said nothing, and they spent the rest of the five minute walk in silence.

'Posto del caffè' was a sweet little restaurant, which consisted of a bar, and a few tables outside. Low profile and traditional. Leo smiled. You would be very hard pushed to find a quaint little coffee shop open in San Francisco any time before nine o'clock. He knew from experience that the only way to get a caffeine fix before then was to make do with the overpriced lukewarm crap that spurted out of those overrated machines. And even then you had to kick the uncooperative thing in the right place to get it to work.

"Are you gonna sit down?" Piper asked, gazing up at him from one of the cute little metal tables she had found a seat at.

"Or did you come all the way to Italy to stand gawping into space?"

"I came to take someone back to San Francisco with me. And it wasn't your grandmother."

Piper didn't smile. She looked at him for a second and Leo saw a lost ness in her hazel eyes. Solemn. Resigned.

"Give me one good reason why I should."

"Because your father needs you."

"Is that right?"

"You're his alibi Piper. Without you, the case would be an open shut."

She kept her eyes focused on the table.

Leo sighed knowing that he was going to have to lay it on thick to get through to her.

"He's accused of murder in the first degree. If he's convicted, he'll spend the rest of his life sitting in a maximum security prison."

Piper shrugged.

"He'll buy his way out of it."

"Not this time. He might be a millionaire Piper, but it only goes so far. It can't help him out of this one."

"Can I get you anything?" an old man asked as he sidled up to their table.

Piper smiled warmly at him.

"Hey, Mr Antonio."

Leo sighed. She wasn't listening to him.

"I don't think your grasping how important this is."

She glared at him.

"Piper he's accused of blowing a mans brains across a wall. The guy had practically no head left!"

"Yum!" She retorted. "Can I get a cappuccino please? I think the hot head here needs some water."

"Of course." The man smiled, as he wandered away.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Piper snapped the second was out of earshot.

"I was just trying to get my point across."

"What times the flight?"

"Five tonight."

"I'm on it."

She smiled a teasing smile, and whispered deliberately slowly, seductively,

"All you had to do was ask."

Leo exhaled loudly and sank back in his chair.

"Well… thanks for dragging it out."

"No problem."

Mr Antonio reappeared with a deep, wide rimmed coffee mug, teetering precariously on an oversized saucer. He carefully put it on the table in front of Piper, and handed Leo a bottle of water. Cold refreshing water. Finally.

"Thanks." He said gratefully.

The old man muttered something to Piper in Italian, before ambling off again, still chuckling.

"What did he say?" Leo asked curiously, after taking several extremely needed gulps of water.

Piper took a long, slow sip of her coffee.

"He said that we would have Beautiful children."

Leo smiled softly. With her genes in them, he was definitely right.

God the next few weeks were going to be interesting…


	2. Chapter 2

Authors note: Thank you everyone who reviewed! I really appreciate it (Piper luva 4eva,I really wish I could speak Italian, but its off a translation website lol.) I'm going on holiday for three weeks tomorrow, so I wont be able to update anything for a while. On the brightside, I have a huge 8 hour flight, so I dont have any excuses not to write the next chapter! This chapters just a filler really, and is pretty short. Please review!

* * *

**Chapter two: **_The flight._

* * *

It turned out that the 'interesting' nature of the next few weeks was going to have an amazingly mind numbing start. The flight. 

First it was delayed by three and a half hours. A routine check kept them grounded for another forty-five minutes. The air conditioning above Leo's seat was broken, and the film he forced himself to watch to avoid insanity was awful. 'Don't look now.' Anyone who pretended to understand it was lying. A dead kid, France, a blind psychic, and a knife wielding dwarf woman murderer in a red coat. Where was the sense?

Leo was a pretty easygoing person, and even all of this; he could have just about been able to cope if it hadn't been for the Piper aspect. On the twenty three hour flight, Leo realized that she was the single most annoying person he had ever met, and in a complete contrast to his original day dream of wanting to screw her in the bathroom, Leo had been very tempted to lock himself in there, shove his head down the toilet, and flush repeatedly until he either drowned, or amnesia occurred, conveniently letting him forget all about Piper and the case.

Leo sighed, shuffling in his seat slightly, and glanced over at her. Okay, she looked great with her hair down, framing her face with a natural wave, but she had her music on so loud, that he could practically hear it word for word. Trivium, 'Dying in you arms.' She was tapping her foot along with it, on the back of the seat in front of her. He shouldn't complain. It was the first time she had shut her mouth in the last two hours. She hadn't stopped moaning about trivial, meaningless little things. The water wasn't cold enough. Her arm rests were too high. Her window was dirty. The fat guy in front of her was pushing his seat back. There was always something wrong. What made her so important?

Leo despised people like that. It suddenly occurred to him that he had met someone else with similar traits recently. Her father, Victor Luciano. And look what he was capable of…

Leo knew that as his lawyer, he had to stand by his client, and believe his pleas of innocence, god knows he was paying him enough. But there was something about that smug smile he always wore so comfortably whenever Bradley Kern's name was mentioned that chilled something inside him. Leo knew he had done it.

He hadn't been lying to Piper. What was left of Kerns wasn't a pretty sight. They'd had to use fingerprints to identify the body, because a machine gun had put so many bullets in his head he hardly had a face left, and using dental records would have been futile because he didn't haven't many teeth left in tact, and even less in his mouth. No one had even tried to dispose of the body. He just lay there on his kitchen floor, sprawled out in a growing puddle of his own blood and brains, until the postman found him the next morning.

It was no secret that Victor had hated him. Kerns had screwed him out of 2.1 million dollars in a business deal. If that wasn't motive for murder, Leo didn't know what was.

His alibi was that he spent the whole evening in the company of his three daughters. Leo didn't doubt that it was a complete lie. Piper was the only one willing to collaborate his story. Piper was also quick witted, and found it extremely easy to lie.

Leo looked at her again. She was currently arguing for all she was worth with a male flight attendant, who had brought her the wrong drink. He seemed more preoccupied with her legs.

Leo sighed. What the hell had he gotten himself into?


	3. Chapter 3

Author's note: I'm really, really sorry that its taken me so long to update! I have a good excuse: my computer broke and we had to get a new tower. I did have this chapter typed up, but all my files got wiped, along with word, so I couldn't type upanything!

Anyway…. SnOzbOz and -0-charmed-freak-0-: Thank you for reviewing.

Heather1021: Damn you broke my code- as elaborate as it was! Lol. Thanks.

Piper luva 4eva: Yeah I did thanks. I agree trivium are great!

* * *

Chapter three.

_A father's love._

* * *

She hadn't seen him in years. Walking down the small grey over guarded little corridor, Piper almost felt nervous. But only almost. She'd never let her guard down long enough for anyone to notice. She was the only one who would ever know about the icy feeling creeping into her stomach as she and Leo approached the door.

"Try to stick to topics that are relevant." Leo told her, running through a few last minute things.

She wasn't listening to him. The flight had really taken it out of her, and to be honest, it was practically impossible to get a decent nights sleep on the bed Leo had made up for her.

"Don't say anything that might upset him," Leo continued. "Or cause any arguments. Its probably best to avoid discussing any negative feedback about the case, or anything you may have heard in Italy."

Piper nodded, running an impatient hand through her hair. She was wearing it down in attempt to draw attention away from how tired she was. Following Leo's advice, she had dressed smart in a low cut, button up black blouse and a pair of figure hugging black trousers that settled on her hips. The high heeled black boots she was wearing hurt like hell, but they looked great.

Someone else obviously thought so, as one of the guards assigned to make sure that her dad didn't escape from the interview room, let out an appreciative wolf whistle. Piper glanced up.

"'Alright sweetheart?" He swooned, just about managing to leer at her over his huge stomach.

"Fuck off."

"Oooh, feisty!" he said, puckering his lips to make kissy-kissy faces at her.

Leo glared at him.

"Do you mind?" he demanded.

"Sorry."

"I'm over here." Leo snapped.

The guy straightened up, and hesitantly dragged his gaze from Piper's chest.

"No offence, but your really not as pretty to look at."

Leo took a menacing step forward.

"'You wanna carry on, or realize when it's a good idea to back off?"

"Sorry."

"I should fucking hope so."

He turned around and indicated for her to keep walking. The hurried click of Piper's heels sounded on the uncarpeted floor as she caught up with him.

She gave him a quick sideward glance. Leo's green eyes were darkened with annoyance. His brow was furrowed. His teeth were gritted. Piper didn't like it. He had no reason to be so annoyed. Why should he? He didn't even know here. If he did, he would know that she was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. She'd been doing it for long enough.

He caught her gaze as they stopped at the door.

"'You ready?" he asked gently.

Piper looked at the door. The grey paint was peeling off it. The well used handle was tarnished. It was just a door. Just an average run of the mill door. So why was she so terrified of what was behind it? Just a room. Just a person.

"Yeah."

"'You sure?"

Piper's eyes darted up to meet his.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Just making sure you're alright."

"I'm fine."

Leo shrugged, and reached out for the door handle. Piper held her breath. It was the slowest moment of her life. Waiting for that door to swing open. Waiting for it to reveal a man she hadn't laid eyes on in years. Waiting for her life to change.

"About time." A self assured male voice chided. "Just because I have nothing better to do doesn't mean I enjoy sitting in a room by myself."

Piper knew that voice.

"Sorry." Leo apologized. "I should have called and aid we were going to be late."

The first thing Piper saw was the glint of hope in her dads eyes when he heard the word 'we'.

He looked different. Older. The distinguished grey in his receding dark hair had grown, and he'd put on weight. He looked tired, but his piercing brown eyes held a casual defiance. She knew that look.

He was slumped boredly over the table, wearing a very unflattering orange jump suit. A far cry from his usual slick designer threads. Piper had never seen him looking so rough.

"Hi, dad." She croaked.

He looked genuinely disappointed.

"Piper? I-I wasn't expecting to see you."

He turned to Leo.

"You do know that I have two others daughters that live in this country?"

Leo blinked, obviously not expecting that less than impressed reaction.

Piper knew he'd look at her, with apologetic sympathy in his eyes. Knew he'd play the mediator. Knew he'd feel sorry for her.

"Sorry Leo." She snorted, in an attempt to dissuade this. "I forgot to tell you that my fathers a vindictive bastard."

"Hey. Attitude." Victor scolded, almost sounding like a father. "I was just expecting Prue or Phoebe. But I suppose my lawyer wouldn't have gotten such a nice tan, getting them. What are you doing here?"

"What-what am I-? Oh you know! 'Just thought I'd hop on a twenty three hour flight, to check out the scenery. Prison cell chic. Get hit on by a couple of overweight greasy cops –all in a day's fun! What the hell do you _think_ I'm here for?"

"I just thought that Prue or Phoebe would come."

"And the daughter who did bother to turn up doesn't even get a hug? I haven't seen you in three years!"

"I haven't seen them in longer! You could have tried Piper. You could have persuaded them."

"Have you ever _tried_ getting blood out of a stone?"

Leo cleared his throat.

"Simmer _down_." He said carefully.

Piper ignored him.

"They are not here, because the don't want to be here. You wanna know why that is?"

"I'm warning you." Victor said through gritted teeth. His eyes were blazing.

"Because they don't give a damn."

Victor slowly stood up.

"They hate you. Why the hell should they be here? They're happy without you in their lives. Do you think they'd actually notice if you got put away? Face it dad, you're already dead to them."

That's when he gave her a swift backhander, hard across the face. Piper went sprawling very ungracefully onto the floor.

Leo quickly knelt down next to her.

"That is _not_ alright!" he yelled at Victor, looking so angry that the annoyance Piper had seen in his eyes earlier held absolutely no comparison.

"Are you okay?"

Piper nodded. She brought a hand up to her mouth. She felt warm blood. A split lip.

"'Guess that's what you call a father's a love huh?" she said sarcastically, letting Leo help her up. "As you can see, my father's a very loving person."

Victor closed his eyes and sighed loudly.

"I'm sorry."

He actually sounded sincere. The concern on the face looked genuine. Someone meeting Victor for the first time might believe it, but Piper knew better.

"Piper I'm sorry."

She kept her eyes down and refused to look at him.

"Piper… Guardilo. Ho bisogno del vostro aiuto. Bambino per favore."

Piper hated it when he spoke to her in Italian. She knew he was doing it to make her feel guilty. It reminded her of her childhood. He had hardly ever spoken in anything but Italian to her and her sisters when they were growing up. He used to be different then. Especially with her, he actually used to care. She missed that.

Piper took a deep breath.

"Lo avete." She said quietly. "I'll help you."

It was completely against her better judgement, but from the very second Leo had appeared on her doorstep, she knew she'd do it.

The rest of the meeting was spent on small talk. Leo went through the alibi that they both supposedly shared, to make sure there were no holes in their story, and her dad asked a few questions about Italy and her sisters. To be honest, Piper was glad when it was over. Glad, when she was out of the room and able to breath properly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Leo asked, somehow noticing this.

She had no idea how. Piper was very good at hiding her feelings, and it annoyed the hell out of her that he could see right through it.

Piper smiled, and raised a belittling eyebrow at him.

"No, I just said I was for the fun of it."

"'You wanna get some ice on that." Leo said, gently lifting her chin. He ran his thumb softly over her lip.

"I'll bear that in mind." Piper whispered, trying very hard to resist the urge to kiss him.

He looked really good today. Not that he hadn't in Italy, but he'd been understandably dishevelled after the stress of the flight over. Today he had an air of confidence that she suspected his job gave him, and this was definitely captured by his sharp black suit, and deliberately messed up hair.

Piper took a slow step back, and shrugged her face out of the cradle his hand held it in.

Leo sighed.

"Look, are you-"

"I'm fine." She interrupted. "Honestly, I'm alright."

She knew he didn't believe her. Before he decided to argue, she turned around and started making her way back down the corridor. Piper walked away, knowing his eyes were on her.

* * *

Hope you liked it. Please review! –Oh, I forgot to mention that I changed Victor's surname from Bennet to Luciano because it sounds more Italian, just in case anyone was wondering. 


	4. Chapter 4

Authors note: Hey, sorry I took so long to update. I had to restart this chapter, because it wasn't working, and I still don't like it. It just seems like a 'lets-all-shout-at-Piper-for-any-old-reason' chapter, but I promise it's in the story for a reason, and it has to be in there so that something later on makes sense. But I still hate it.

Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

Heather1021: Patience my dear friend, lol. Fluff will come in time. Thanks for reviewing.

SnOzbOz: Thanks for reviewing!

-0-charmed-freak-0-: Thanks; I'm glad you liked it.

Piper luva 4eva: Thanks! I was kinda worried because I changed Victor so much, but I'm glad he's having the right effect! I'm glad you like the chemistry.

Reneexoxtyler15: Drama's good right? Lol. I got the Italian stuff off a translation website.

PiperandLeoFan101: Thanks, I'm glad you like it. Of course they'll get together- what's the point of a Piper/Leo fic without Piper/Leo right? Lol.

* * *

Chapter four.

_Intervention._

* * *

Piper was bored. It was something she should be used to. The word hadn't stopped buzzing around her head for days. Especially now. What else would she be, sitting in an awkward silence with Leo, his sister, and his soon to be brother in law. It wasn't exactly the stuff dreams were made of.

After the initial introductions, she'd learned that Chelsea was Leo's younger sister by four years, she had a cat called Floopy, and that they're dad was currently having a midlife crisis at a ski resort in Alaska. Pretty irrelevant stuff really. Nick, her fiancé had gushed about how cool the mafia were, with childish enthusiasm, until Piper shot him an 'I-could-have-you-killed' look, and he shut up about it. Eventually the conversation had fizzled about. Now she was bored. And tired.

Her second night at Leo's hadn't been much more comfortable. Which meant hardly any sleep, bags under her eyes, and an awful mood. She still didn't understand why she had to stay here.

She glanced around Leo's apartment. It was nice enough. Modern, but at the same time homely. He seemed to be very into simple minimlistic wall filling art. That and a few other choice items, like his plasma screen T.V gave away the fact that he was pretty well paid. His place was pretty small though. Definitely not made for lawyers who decided to bring their clients daughters home to stay.

Leo had told her that he was legally responsible for her for the duration of the case, because she was a major witness. If she got lost somewhere along the way, it would jeopardise everything and put his neck on the line. Piper had argued that she wasn't an odd sock and would be very hard to loose, but Leo had been adamant. Lawyers were so damn stubborn.

So here she was, stuck in an unenviable situation. Chelsea and Nick seemed nice enough, but they obviously had no idea what to say to her, or how to act. Piper kept catching Chelsea's glances, which she tried to disguise with smiles. She looked a lot like Leo. She had the same startling green eyes, and dark blonde hair, but she'd highlighted hers. Good looks definitely ran in their family. Nick, on the other hand, seemed to have drifted off into his own little world. His dark eyes were glazed over, and he was nodding his head absentmindedly to some nonexistent music. Right now bored didn't cover how Piper was feeling.

She was pretty relieved when the doorbell rang. As long as it wasn't more of Leo's family come to join the party, it was a good thing. She could even deal with a gun wielding mass murderer at this point. Anything was an improvement.

"You have absolutely no idea what your doing."

Piper closed her eyes. Maybe 'anything' was going slightly too far. She turned around to see Prue storm past Leo, looking as Italian as ever. She looked pretty much the same as always. Long raven hair. Daring outfit. Annoyed expression.

"Erm… I'm sitting in a lawyers living room, with people I don't know." She said sarcastically, suddenly regretting the phone call she'd made to her sister the night before. "What I don't understand is how _you_ know _where_ I'm doing that."

"Please. My husbands a cop. Traced the call." Prue snapped impatiently. "And we didn't come here to listen to your sarcastic quips, okay?"

"I guess it's too much to assume that you came to see your sister?"

"I came to see my sister." Another voice interrupted.

Phoebe, who obviously hadn't ran up the stairs in an angry fit, desperate to yell at her, wandered into the room, closely followed by her husband Cole.

"Hey Pheeb's" Piper smiled, returning the hug that her younger sister wrapped her in. at least _someone_ in this damn country was happy to see her.

Piper froze, and pulled away, staring down at Phoebe's huge stomach.

"You're pregnant…?"

An exited smile lit up Phoebe's already glowing face, as she nodded.

"Well either you got six of 'em in there, or you're _really_ pregnant."

"Eight months." Cole informed her, with fatherly pride.

"Oh, right…"

Piper didn't even try to pretend that she wasn't hurt. Her little sister was eight months pregnant, and nobody bothered to tell her? Okay, so maybe they weren't as close as they used to be, that came with the territory of living in separate countries, but this was huge news.

Phoebe read her expression, and nervously raked her blonde hair out of her face.

"Look, Piper I didn't deliberately not tell you. I just didn't get round to it."

"Don't bother Pheeb's, its not like she actually cares." Prue cut in.

"Excuse me?"

"Your nephew is four years old, and you've seen him twice."

"Prue in case you haven't noticed, there's twenty three hours between us."

"But the second our darling father hollers you come running?"

Piper rolled her eyes. She'd been wondering how long it would take Prue to play the dad card.

"It's not like that."

"Of course it is. You don't owe that bastard anything."

"Hey!" Phoebe yelled, wrapping her arms protectively around her bump. "My baby has ears you know!"

"She's taking it very seriously." Cole told them. "No swearing. No conflict. Lots of calming, neutral colours."

Piper took in Phoebes light flowing lilac top, and wondered how the hell it cold effect the baby, considering all it could actually see was the inside of Phoebe's uterus.

"Its not my fault Pipers being stupid." Prue stated, heading straight back into the argument. "You've always been way too easy to persuade. You need to develop a backbone, and realize that dads never going to be the father you want him to be. And _you_!"

Prue turned to Leo.

"Where the hell do you get off manipulating my little sister into supplying a murderer with an alibi?"

Leo opened his mouth to spout some professional mediating crap they taught him at law school, but Prue cut him off.

"Don't pretend that you're doing it for anything else than his money. You know he did it, and you know she's lying. Are you really sleeping easy knowing that your actually trying to get a drug dealing, money laundering, murdering scumbag released back onto the streets?"

"Prue stop shouting at the lawyer!" Piper yelled. "I am not a kid, and I know exactly what I am doing."

Prue shook her head incredulously.

"You don't have the first clue! Wake up! Take a good look at him. You have got no idea how many people he has hurt. And what's more you don't even care! You're just thinking about yourself, and trying to get back into daddy's good books. You're just being the same selfish little brat that you always were."

"Oh _I _was the selfish brat? Look whose talking! You were always the favourite Prue. You know you were. And guess what? You still are. when I saw him yesterday, all he kept asking was where you two were."

"Right before he gave you that fat lip?"

Piper glanced down at the floor. The swelling had gone down since yesterday, but the cut was still visible. Their dad had never been what you might call abusive. Just very strict. Even Prue would know that Piper must have said something pretty bad to have made him that mad.

"Piper, you're his daughter for gods sake." She continued. "And you're not an idiot. You know better than to sit there and take it. So why the hell are you taking his side?"

"Why the hell are you so bothered?"

"Why the hell do you both keep saying 'hell'?" Phoebe snapped, stepping in between the two of them. "_This _is conflict. Which is not good, for the baby, or for you two. Piper stop being so stubborn, and Prue stop shouting."

She turned to look at Piper.

"Sweetie, we didn't come here to yell at you. We just came to talk."

Piper knew that Phoebe was just trying to calm things down. When she got going, she could shout louder and longer than both her and Prue, but it took quite a lot to wind her up, and she generally tried to stay away from conflict, pregnant or not. If only for an easy life, Piper knew that she should agree, smile and apologize. But she couldn't bring herself to do it. She was too mad at both of them.

"Well maybe I'm done talking."

"Piper-"

"Maybe you should have picked up the phone eight months ago."

Prue glared at her.

"And maybe we should have deleted your number years ago." She muttered through gritted teeth. "Its not like it appears on the phone bill very often."

"Shut up Prue."

"Are you gonna make me? Do a dad, and give me a backhander?"

Phoebe slipped her hand around Prue's wrist.

"Come on, lets go." She said quietly.

She may be hard to have an argument with, but she was easy to upset.

"Fine!" Prue yelled, walking backwards towards the door. "But do not blame me when everything goes wrong, and all you've got is your asshole lawyer for company!"

She just had to have the last word. Typical Prue.

Cole followed them out, shooting Leo an apologetic look.

"Sorry man." He muttered. "Take some advice. Don't marry into an Italian family. The women are hell."

Leo nodded, too dazed to appreciate the joke, and closed the door. The reverberating echo shivered through the room. Everyone was silent. Chelsea's eyes were carefully fixed on her clasped hands. Nick was staring around warily, like someone had just turned off his imaginary music. Both were probably wishing that they'd planned an escape route. No one knew what to say. Piper wasn't surprised. How did you follow an argument like that?

Leo was the first to meet her eyes. Typical. He obviously had a death wish.

"Piper-"

"Don't." she said simply, shaking her head.

"Look, I know-"

"Know what? You don't know me. You don't know anything. So do yourself a favour, and don't try. Just sit down and shut up." She snapped sharply.

With tears stinging her eyes, Piper stormed out, honestly not caring what anyone thought of her.

* * *

Was it as bad as I think it was? I promise I'll try and make sure the next chapters better. Please review. 


	5. Chapter 5

Authors note: Thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, and sorry it's taken me so long to update. I'm also really sorry about how short this chapter is. Its just a filler, that really should have gone at the end of the last chapter, but didn't cos it really, really sucked. I was having a crisis over this story, and whether to continue, cos it was so much easier to write at the start, but I think its back on track now.

()()() -I couldnt get the little line thing. whats up with that?-

Chapter five

_Poison pen persuasion._

After the not so pleasant reunion with her sisters, things had gotten a hell of a lot more complicated. Wasn't that always the way? One day everything was easy. Then the next day, everything changed simultaneously, and simplicity became nothing but a far off memory. A part of the yesterday that didn't exist anymore.

The final and last all defining change that had sent simplicity spiralling out of Piper's young life was the anonymous letter. It contained a detailed description of how Victor had severed three of a man called Sam Wilder's fingers with a letter opener, for flirting with his wife, Piper's mother, Patty. Like all good stories, it came complete with colour photographs of his bloody stumps, seemingly lifted straight from the police report. That was enough to shove one too many thoughts into anyone's head, despite how good at multi tasking they were. And not the good kind either.

Piper's head was already swimming with a million things. Her dads unexplained hatred of her. The windowless wall between her and her sisters. The guilt she felt for leaving her grandmother alone in Italy. And last but not least, the nameless 'thing' between her and Leo. Was she imagining it or was there something there? Either way, she was pretty sure her brain was very close to exploding with the added pressure. She definitely didn't have the mental energy to required to solve the mystery of the anonymous note sender. Nancy Drew wasn't home today, sorry.

She decided to keep it to herself, and not tell Leo. For all she knew there may be no truth it. Leo had said himself that the case was highly publicized. Absolutely anyone could have had the idiotic brain wave to send a poison pen letter. What was the point in worrying him? He'd only jump straight into lawyer mode, and go way over the top. Of course, it had absolutely nothing to do with her being in complete denial, and wanting to believe in the romanticized image of her father, that she'd somehow managed to hold onto for years. She didn't want her dad to be capable of doing something so horrible. That misguided, childish faith didn't last long. Because she knew indefinitely that he was. And the regular supply of letters only fuelled that truth, and the doubt she had been secretly harbouring about what she was doing, even before her sisters waded in with their full volume explicit version opinions.

Piper had hoped that the note would be a one off. Easy to sweep under the rug, if not forget about entirely. No such luck. After the first, she started to receive one most other days, and learned a lot of things about her dad that she never wanted to know, in the process. But she'd dug her hole. Made her bed. And now she had to deal with it.

Please review and I'll update as soon as I can.


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